


Aftermath

by cinnamonjay



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Eventual Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak, F/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-28
Updated: 2015-08-28
Packaged: 2018-04-17 15:48:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4672352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinnamonjay/pseuds/cinnamonjay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A month after Oliver does the unthinkable in order to defeat Slade, he and Felicity deal with the aftermath of his actions. Slow burn Olicity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

-1-

Oliver made his way into the Sanctuary, pulling back his hood. It had been a quiet night again, which didn't surprise him. Ever since they had stopped Slade and his Mirakuru army from practically destroying Starling City, it seemed people were taking a moment to catch a breath, take stock of where they were. Good guys _and_ bad guys. He supposed he should be grateful for the temporary reprieve from his nighttime vigilantism. He knew it wouldn't last.  
The lights were on inside and it took him only a split second to realise why. He spotted her bright blonde hair almost immediately: Felicity. She was at her desk, stooped over, her head resting on her folded arms. He approached her silently, wondering what she was doing here. He had already told her and Diggle to go home, and that had been an hour ago.  
He slowed down when he got nearer and saw that she was asleep. Her glasses were in her hand and her hair was out of its habitual ponytail, sweeping down across her cheek. He noticed there were dark circles under her eyes, and felt his stomach clutch with concern. She looked tired.  
"Felicity," he said quietly, reaching over and squeezing her shoulder gently. When she didn't stir, he said her name again and lightly stroked her hair off her cheek.  
Her eyes opened and she blinked a few times, looking up at him. For a moment she looked confused; then she abruptly sat up in her chair, putting her glasses back on.  
"Oliver," she said, clearing her throat. "What are you doing here?"  
"No," he said slowly, "what are _you_ doing here?"  
"Right," she said, nervously shuffling in her chair. "Yes, what am I doing here? I should have gone home ages ago, but I…uh…I fell asleep. I guess I won't make employee of the month this time." She smiled at her attempt at a light joke, but her eyes were wide behind her glasses. She swallowed nervously.  
"I think...I'll just go," she said slowly, reaching down and grabbing her bag. When she stood up, she was avoiding his gaze.  
Oliver didn't move. He didn't pretend to read people very easily, but after everything they had been through together, he was starting to read Felicity pretty well. There was something wrong with her, something that was making her nervous around him. She was babbling, and she hadn't babbled around him in a long time.  
He watched her fishing around her bag looking for her keys, and was overwhelmed with the compulsion to gather her into his arms to soothe her. Instead, he reached out and took her hand, holding it still.  
"Felicity," he said, making her look up. "Tell me what's wrong."  
"It's noth-" she started to say, but he interrupted her.  
"Don't tell me it's nothing."  
She looked at him, uncertain, and he squeezed her hand, noticing, despite himself, how nicely it fit inside his.  
"Please," he said.  
She gave him a tight smile, and for a moment he thought she was going to brush him off. He felt a momentary pang of panic at the thought that she was going to shut him out. She never shut him out, never thought twice about telling him exactly what was on her mind, even if it was in her best interest not to do so. It was something that he relied on from her – complete honesty.  
The smile on her face wavered, then disappeared, to be replaced with a tired expression that he had never seen before.  
"I can't sleep at home," she said quietly. "I've been having nightmares ever since Slade…" her voice trailed off and she looked up at him with her big blue eyes, looking suddenly scared and vulnerable. A wave of guilt washed over Oliver as he remembered what he had put her through, what he had made her face all alone. Kidnapped by Slade just so she could get close enough to him to take him down…  
His face darkened at the memory of Slade's sword at Felicity's neck. So many things could have gone wrong that night. He wasn't surprised she was having nightmares – he was having them too.  
"This is the only place where I feel safe," she continued when he didn't say anything. "So I thought I could stay…"  
He frowned and squeezed her hand again. "Of course," he said. "You don't even have to explain, this is your place too." He gave her a small smile, one that he hoped was reassuring, then let go of her hand. "You should take the cot," he said, gesturing towards the back of the room.  
Her eyebrows rose in surprise. "I'm not sleeping in your cot," she said.  
"It's probably more comfortable than your desk." He smiled slightly at her dubious look. "Probably."  
"Yeah, but it's your cot," she said. "You need a good night sleep a lot more than I do, Oliver." She sat back down in her chair. "You know, you should think about getting a better bed to sleep in, you spend more time here than you do at the mansion. Or you know, just get a blanket even."

  
...  
  
The lights flickered on as Felicity made her way into the base, stumbling a little down the stairs. Sometimes she missed the Foundry, with all its space and easier-to-get-to location, but it had been demolished last month by Slade's army. Besides, too many people knew its location now – one of those people being Slade himself. A shiver of fear went down her spine and she halted, closing her eyes. Slade wasn't around anymore, he was locked up far, far away…  
Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she made her way down the last few steps. It was only just past one in the afternoon and she was tired. She had snuck out of work early, for once the mindless whirring of a computer screen doing little to shut out her thoughts. She needed some rest and had automatically driven here. The fact that this place, with its high-tech computers, various weapons and DIY surgery, was a place that she automatically came to for _rest_ was one of the many things in her life that made little to no sense.  
The Sanctuary was empty and she felt a little relieved. Diggle was at his place spending time with Lyla, and Oliver was in a lunch meeting with a potential new investor. Perhaps she could catch a few quick minutes of sleep while she was alone. As she put her bag down at her desk, something caught her eye – something different at the back of the building that hadn't been there the day before. She made her way over, wondering if Oliver had ordered something new in. Where on earth had he found the money?  
When she got to the back of the room, what she saw made her mouth drop open in shock.  
It was a cot. Another cot. Right next to Oliver's one. Felicity stared at it and stared at it, and then kept on staring at it as if it would disappear if she only waited long enough. What in the world was Oliver playing at?  
_You should take the cot._  
_I'm not sleeping in your cot._  
What, she had refused to sleep in his bed, and so he had bought her her own one? And placed it right next to his? She rubbed her forehead wearily and sighed. Oliver could be sweet, in his own way. Too bad he was completely clueless.  
She walked over to the cot and considered moving it somewhere else in the Sanctuary. But she decided against it almost immediately, since she knew that he would read waaaaaay too much into it. If he was fine with sleeping next to her, then she was absolutely fine with sleeping next to him. Because they were just friends and partners. They had been through a lot together, and a lot of that stuff was a whole lot worse than sleeping in separate beds side by side.  
She sighed heavily and settled herself into the cot, pulling the rough grey blanket over herself. She was too tired to worry about things, and really, in the grand scheme of things, worrying about sleeping in a bed next to Oliver was not very high in the things-to-freak-out-about list.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for your interest guys! I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Laurel blinked her eyes a few times as Diggle pulled the blindfold off her head. She pursed her lips, biting back the stream of expletives that she had been formulating in her head. She glared up at him, but he merely gave her a deadpan look as he led her down a flight of stairs.  
“I don’t know why you don’t want me to know where this place is,” she said, following him down.  
“The less people who know where our new place is, the better,” he said.  
“But I already know that Ollie is the Arrow.”  
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean you have to know how to lead others to him.”  
“I would never give away his secret,” she said indignantly. Diggle gave her his deadpan look again, which annoyed her to no end. She wondered what he had against her, but decided that it was probably better not to ask.  
“So I guess this place is just for you and Ollie and Felicity, right?” she said.  
“As Oliver said, this started with the three of us.”  
Laurel sighed as she got to the bottom of the stairs. It still bothered her, that Oliver had kept the secret of him being the vigilante from her for so long. Would it have made a difference to how they had reunited if she had known? If she were being honest with herself, it probably wouldn’t have. But still, it bothered her that he had come back to Starling City and he had not asked for her help, let her think awful things about him, let her say awful things _to_ him. What was it about John Diggle and Felicity Smoak that he trusted them to work with him? She wanted to believe that he did it to keep her out of harm’s way and to protect her. But she knew his secret now…and still he hadn’t asked her to be part of the team.  
“He’s out the back,” Diggle told her, gesturing towards the back of the room before moving away. She smiled her thanks but he had already turned his back to her. Her smile turned into a grimace as she watched his retreating figure. Letting out another sigh, she made her way to the back of the room, heading for where he had pointed.  
“Ollie?” she called out.  
Behind a shelf she saw something move and a few steps around it led her to where Oliver was. He looked up when she appeared and she gave him a wide smile as she opened her mouth to greet him. But he put his finger to his lips, hushing her. The smile on Laurel’s face froze into place when her brain finally processed what she was looking at. Oliver was sitting on a cot, a few files open in front of him, files that she was here to talk to him about.  
On a separate cot next to him was Felicity, sound asleep.  
Silently and smoothly, Oliver got up from the cot, gathered the files in his hands and made his way over to her; not before, she noticed, he briefly leaned over to check on Felicity.  
“Hey,” he whispered, coming to stand next to her, “what are you doing here?”  
“I…” she began to say, forgetting what it was she had come over for. She had spent the better half of the morning convincing John Diggle to take her to Ollie, and now she couldn’t even remember what it was she wanted to see him about.  
“Let’s talk out here,” he said, gesturing out towards the main room. “I don’t want to wake Felicity.”  
Laurel followed him dumbly, her heels clicking loudly on the floor. When he put down the files he was carrying and perched himself on a table, looking at her expectantly, she opened her mouth and said the first thing that popped into her head.  
“So Felicity sleeps here too?”  
Ollie’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Not all the time,” he said slowly.  
“Oh,” she said. She paused. Then – “this is a recent development?”  
He exhaled loudly and crossed his arms. “She’s been having nightmares. The whole Slade thing…”  
“I see,” she said. Of course – when Slade had kidnapped Felicity and threatened to kill her in front of Oliver. That had been a moment of big reveals for Laurel, the biggest of which was the realisation that Oliver and Felicity were well and truly partners.  
“Diggle told me that you wanted to talk to me about something urgently?” he said, breaking through her thoughts.  
“Oh?” she said. “Yeah, I did. I-” She was cut off when her phone began to buzz, and she almost sighed with relief. Pulling it out of her pocket, she saw that it was a text from the office. It wasn’t important, but it served her purpose for the moment.  
“Sorry, I really need to get back to the office,” she said. She gave him a smile she didn’t feel. “There’s a case I’m working on and the jury’s come back earlier than I thought. Do you think John could drive me back?”  
“Of course,” he said, giving her a steely look that she chose to ignore. “Is everything ok?”  
“Yeah, of course,” she said. “We can talk later.” She gestured towards the files next to him. “I’ll call you later about those. I’m sorry Ollie, I really need to get back to the office.”  
“Sure,” he said. He stood up and walked over to her, giving her a tight smile. “We’ll talk later.”  
Laurel nodded her head. “Of course,” she said. She waited as he went to find Diggle to drive her back to the office, pulling her phone out of her pocket to pretend that she was busy sending an email when in truth her mind was whirring with a million questions that she couldn’t ask.  
A few minutes later, as she followed Diggle up the stairs, she glanced back and saw Oliver returning to the back of the room.

....

Oliver found Felicity awake and sitting up on her cot.  
“Did I wake you?” he asked.  
“I heard Laurel’s voice,” she said. “She didn’t stay long.”  
“She got a call from the office and had to leave.”  
“Really?” she said, tilting her head to the side in the way she did when she didn’t believe what he was telling her.  
“That’s what she said.”  
Felicity sighed and brought her legs up to her chest, resting her chin on her knees. He realised that she was wearing loose track pants and a white t-shirt – not her usual quirky dresses or bright blouses. He frowned, a trickle of worry washing over him. Felicity always kept herself very well put-together, he suspected to compensate for her occasionally nervous personality traits. The fact that she wasn’t even _trying_ suggested an unusual apathy that unsettled him.  
“You know why she left so quickly, don’t you?” she said, staring at him directly with her bright blue eyes. He looked at her silently, not sure where the conversation was heading, but pretty sure that he wasn’t going to like it.  
“She was startled to find me sleeping here,” she said. “You know, sleeping here in a cot next to your cot in a small space.”  
“I don’t see how that’s any of Laurel’s concern,” he said, choosing his words carefully. She gave him another long look before she let out a sigh and stood up.  
“I’ll start staying over at Dig’s. He said I could.”  
“Why would you do that?” he asked.  
“Because if Laurel is going to be coming to the Sanctuary now, I can’t be sleeping here.” She went to walk past him but he caught her by the elbow and stopped her.  
“Felicity,” he started to say but she cut him off.  
“Oliver,” she said, her voice suddenly stern. He blinked. Uh-oh. She was using her loud voice.  
“This is _Laurel_ we’re talking about,” she said. “Don’t you think it would be a little awkward for you to get back together with her if I’m sleeping here next to you?”  
“Who says I want to get back with Laurel?” he asked.  
“I don’t know, maybe the _universe_?” she said, looking at him like she thought he was stupid. “You’ve been all about her ever since you got back from the island. She’s like your…you know, she’s… _Laurel_.” She pursed her lips, looking like she was about to start telling him off. He stared at her, completely confused as to how he had gotten into this conversation, and wanting very much to get out of it as soon as possible. But then Felicity’s expression softened and she reached out to touch him gently on the arm.  
“Oliver, I really…I want you to be happy,” she said softly. “You deserve it. After everything you’ve been through and after everything you’ve done for this city…I really think Laurel could make you happy. She kept you alive while you were on the island, and you did everything you could to get back to her. I think it’s time you got back to her.” She gave him a small smile before looking away. “I’ll get on to checking those names on the files for you.”  
She walked away from him back to her computers, leaving him alone, her words echoing inside him.


	3. Chapter 3

_Felicity is with me and Lyla tonight. Don’t worry, we’ll look after her._   
Oliver put his phone down on the table and made his way to the back of the room, pulling off his hood and depositing his quiver along the way. Another quiet night in Starling City. He had sent Diggle and Felicity home early again, and although the silence and emptiness of the Sanctuary usually didn’t bother him, tonight it did. He sat down in a chair, looking at Diggle’s text again. An unmistakeable feeling of loneliness was settling in his stomach, one he tried to ignore but couldn’t. With his mother dead and Thea gone, he was starting to notice that, for all intents and purposes, Diggle and Felicity were his family now. Everything that he had known in his life, everything that had made him Oliver Queen before the island, was gone. He’d lost QC, he’d lost his family, the mansion was an empty shell. Even the friends he had known before – Tommy and Sara, they weren’t around anymore. And Laurel? He knew she wanted him to start trusting her, let her in, become the main woman in his life again. But he was hesitating because…   
Well, because he already had a woman. Well, a girl. Not a _girl_ girl, because apparently, there was a difference. He had Felicity, and apart from Diggle, she was the person he trusted most in the world. When he had come back from Lian Yu, he had expected to clean up Starling City all by himself. He had been alone for so long that he had thought that he would be alone for the rest of his life.   
But then he had met Felicity. From the beginning she had just seemed to see right through him: she saw through his lies, all his excuses, all his fake smiles and winning charm that no one – not his family, not Tommy or even Laurel – had seen through. She hadn’t seen the Oliver Queen that his family and past friends were so desperate to get back; she had only seen the Oliver Queen who had returned. And she had decided that he was – not broken, not misguided, not a liar or a cheat or a murderer – but good. Good enough to help, good enough to trust, good enough to take that leap of faith on. Maybe it had been that difference in the way she looked at him that had made him connect with her. Maybe it had been the open acceptance he saw in her eyes (so different from his mother’s poker face, Thea’s confusion, Tommy’s disapproval and Laurel’s hurt) that had crumbled his walls a little. He didn’t really know; all he knew was that now he had a person by his side who kept him on the straight and narrow, told him when he was wrong, congratulated him when he was right and risked everything she had to fight alongside him. All of a sudden, he was no longer alone. And because of that, he was starting to notice those times whenever he was alone – how silent it was without Felicity’s babbling, how empty a place could be without Diggle’s steadying presence. He let out a huge sigh and made his way over to his cot, taking off his costume as he went. The sight of Felicity’s empty cot next to his one only served to underline the feeling of loneliness deep in the pit of his stomach. He didn’t know what he had been thinking when he had brought it in for her – but after a couple of weeks with her sleeping there, he didn’t care anymore. There was something so settling about having her there with him. During those moments when Diggle was in the main room working out, and he was sitting on his cot looking through a file or sharpening his arrows, and Felicity was sleeping quietly next to him, he felt something that he imagined was close to peace. He looked at Felicity’s empty cot again, his chest tightening. Having peace was something that he had never thought was going to be possible to have again after what he had gone through. But from the moment when he had met Felicity, something inside him had sparked back to life, so slowly that he hadn’t even noticed it was growing until one day it was just there. A light. Last night, Felicity had been right. It was Laurel who had kept him alive on the island. That photograph of her had been the only thing that had connected him to his old life, the only reminder that somewhere out there, outside of the hell that he was living through, there was a world that he had once belonged to. But what Felicity didn’t know was that what kept him alive now was…her. Felicity was his light, the light he could see when everything else around him was still so dark. He looked down at his cot, his chest heavy. Then with a weary sigh, he lay himself down on the cot where only last night, Felicity had slept. He closed his eyes and let her scent on her pillow carry him away into the darkness. * Felicity sipped her coffee as she sat on the park bench, watching people passing by on their morning jogs or walking their dogs. She wondered whether she should get a dog – maybe that would stop her feeling so alone in her apartment. As much as she had loved staying over at Diggle and Lyla’s for the night, she didn’t know if she could take more than one night of Diggle being so over-protective. She supposed it was his father-to-be instincts working overtime. She knew she couldn’t blame him but still, she didn’t want to turn into Lyla, who looked ready to kill him whenever he told her off for doing something besides sitting down. As she took another sip of her coffee, she heard someone calling her name. She turned her head and saw Laurel walking towards her. It was the weekend so she was out of her habitual business suit, instead sporting a pair of jeans and a loose cardigan. She was smiling as she approached. “Hi Laurel,” Felicity said, returning her smile. “Mind if I join you?” Laurel asked. “No, of course,” Felicity said, shuffling over a little. Laurel sat down next to her and the two of them fell into an awkward silence. Felicity could feel her thoughts scrambling in her head, trying to think of something to say, but she kept her mouth shut tight. She did not want to start rambling on and on – it was way too early in the morning for that sort of embarrassment. “How are you?” Laurel said, finally breaking the silence. “I’m ok. How are you?” “I’m fine,” Laurel said, nodding her head slightly. “Ollie told me that you haven’t been sleeping well.” “Oh he did?” she said. She didn’t know how she felt about Oliver and Laurel talking about her. “Well, I’ve been having nightmares. About Slade, you know. Actually, you do know, don’t you? You should know all about that, you were there too. I mean, Slade kidnapped you too.” “Yeah,” Laurel said, giving her a wry smile. “It’s an odd thing, to have in common, isn’t it?” “Yeah, it is. But come on, we have more things in common, don’t we? Like, we’re both friends with a vigilante.” Felicity smiled. “And we’re both super smart.” “And great dressers.” “And we both fight crime.” “And we’re both friends with Ollie.” Felicity gave her a little smile and nodded her head. “Oliver. We have Oliver in common.” “Oliver,” Laurel echoed, looking at Felicity thoughtfully. Felicity looked back at Laurel, thinking that she really was lovely. If only she and Oliver could get past all their history, start being honest with each other, she really thought they had a chance. “You know I’ve been thinking about that time with Slade lately,” Laurel said. “And I’m sorry to bring it up.” “No it’s ok,” Felicity said. “Maybe it would help to talk about it.” “What you did was really brave, you know.” Felicity shrugged. “I guess nothing short of an apocalypse will get me over my fear of needles and psychos.” That made Laurel smile. “I can see why Ollie loves you.” Felicity was taken aback. “What? No, he doesn’t…what?” “Ok,” Laurel said with a laugh, nudging her with her shoulder. “Have it your way.” “We’re partners,” Felicity told her. Laurel gave her a knowing smile, which made Felicity a little uncomfortable. She hoped Laurel wasn’t being serious. Of course she had been there when Oliver had told Slade that he loved her, but surely she would have figured out by now that it was all a ruse? She didn’t want Laurel thinking that there was more to it than that – like the situation wasn’t mortifying enough! After a long pause, Laurel spoke again. “Can I tell you something?” Felicity nodded her head. “Before he disappeared, Ollie didn’t really care about anything or anyone. He was…well, I’m sure you’ve heard the stories. He only cared about himself, he did things his own way. I don’t think that changed when he came back – I suspect that he was even going to do the whole Arrow thing all by himself.” Felicity nodded her head. She remembered Oliver saying exactly that once to her: at the beginning I was just going to do all this all by myself. “When he came back, I thought he hadn’t changed at all,” Laurel continued. “He did anything he could to keep his secret of being the Arrow, at the cost of everything that should have been important to him. He fought with Thea, he fought with his mother, he fought with Sara. He fought with me, and Tommy…” her voice trailed away. “He tried his best,” Felicity said quietly. Laurel shook her head and smiled sadly. “No he didn’t. He didn’t try his best, not with me or Tommy or with his family. His secret was more important to him. If he had tried his best, he would have told us what he was doing. He would have trusted us, tried his best to get us to believe in what he was trying to do. The only people he tried his best with were John. And you. He did tried his best with you.” “I think…” Felicity swallowed, trying to find the right words to say. She didn’t want Laurel to think that Oliver didn’t care about her. It was completely the opposite – he cared about her so much that he tried to protect her all the time. “I think that you and I both know how much Oliver’s changed,” Felicity said. “It was hard for him to be with you guys because I think for him it was a constant reminder of the guy he used to be – you know, before all the hellfire and death and…scars. I think so much of him wants to hide what he had to endure, especially from the people he loves. He doesn’t want to hurt them. He didn’t want to hurt you.” “Maybe,” Laurel said, looking unconvinced. “Or maybe it wasn’t about him hiding. Maybe it was about us not seeing.” She turned to look at her. “How did you find out?” Felicity smiled wryly. “He wanted me to hack into a computer for him. I think I unofficially knew then. Officially though, Moira shot him – the Arrow, I mean – and I found him bleeding in the backseat of my car.” Laurel smiled and nodded her head as if Felicity had confirmed something for her. “Moira got attacked by the vigilante not long before Ollie came back. You found out pretty early on.” “Oh-kay…” Laurel reached out and touched her on the arm. “No, I’m not competing or comparing, don’t get me wrong.” “Good,” Felicity said. “Because there isn’t really any competition. He loves you, Laurel. That’s why he kept his secret from you.” Laurel smiled. “You’re sweet,” she said, reminding Felicity of Sara. She checked her watch and stood up. “I need to go, but I’m glad I ran into you.” “Me too,” Felicity said. “I guess we’ll be seeing more of each other, so it’s nice to have a chance to talk to you. With Sara gone, I’m looking forward to having another woman around. Maybe I can finally convince Oliver that we should get a couch in the Sanctuary. He laughed when I said it would be nice for guests.” “He laughed?” “Well, you know. Smirked. Which he’ll never do again, considering I sent him a spam bomb of couch pictures to his email account. Which I’ll never do again because all he did was buy a new phone which I had to recalibrate to our computers which is not easy, and then he just smirked at me all week. Which I’m sorry to say I didn’t mind that much, cos at least he was smirking and not, you know. Brooding.” Laurel stared thoughtfully at Felicity for a long time before giving her a wide grin. “You know Felicity, when Oliver came back to Starling City, we all wanted him to be something. Thea wanted him to be her brother again, Moira wanted him to be her son. Tommy wanted him to be his best friend and I wanted him to be Ollie again so I could hate him for what he did to me. You know what you want him to be?” “Someone who’ll buy me a couch?” “Happy.”


End file.
